Preds stand pat (for now)

As of around 7 p.m. central time, when I talked to David Poile, the Nashville Predators had not made any moves today, the first day unrestricted free agents can sign with other teams.

“I think July 1 has never been a strong day for us,” Poile said. “We have a lot of irons in the fire. We talked to a lot of agents about a lot of players, and I think we’re in a good situation.”

Today, the Predators lost the two unrestricted free agents they wanted to re-sign, Marcel Goc to Florida and Joel Ward to Washington. Ward was rewarded quite handsomely with a four-year, $12 million contract. Goc could be a steal for the Panthers at three years $1.7 million per season. The deals proved too rich for the Predators.

Ward’s raise was pretty hefty. His last contract paid him $1.5 million per season. Clearly, the Capitals liked what they saw out of his 13 point in 12 game playoff performance.

“I think the recognition factor we all thought for the Predators, our organization, the team and Ward’s playoffs were certainly huge for the contract that he got,” Poile said.

Leading up to today, Poile and many other general managers, lamented that this year’s free agent crop wasn’t particularly strong. Besides forward Brad Richards (still unsigned) it really wasn’t. But Poile did say that he may have to look toward a different route for a top-6 forward — a position he coveted going into the offseason.

“There are still a couple of guys that haven’t been signed who we talked to their agents about, so there’s always the possibility of something,” Poile said. “We had lots of conversations, it’s hard to say. The market to me, there were some contracts that were very high. Not money I would have paid for players that were signed. But that’s what free agency is all about.”

Arbitration situation: Poile re-iterated that the Predators, “feel confident in our position,” in regards to the NHLPA’s grievance over Nashville’s qualifying offers to its restricted free agents. The hearing will be July 8.